BYU Football: After Win at Colorado State, BYU Is Officially Back

With BYU’s 49-10 win at Colorado State, it’s safe to say the Cougars are officially back.

For the second week in a row, the BYU offense rolled against Mountain West competition, this time for 526 yards of efficient and explosive offense.

The formerly anemic Cougar offense has racked up 1,042 total yards in the past two weeks.

Jake Heaps took another step forward in his progress with four touchdown passes in the first half, equaling his entire previous output on the season in 30 minutes of play.

All four touchdowns were thrown to senior receiver Luke Ashworth, whose improvement over the past two weeks has been almost as amazing as Heaps’.

After being plagued by drops during the year Luke has five touchdown receptions and 196 yards in the last two games. All four of his catches on the day went for touchdowns. He averaged over 28 yards per reception, including a 62-yard TD on a flea flicker play.

Heaps came up big, going 15-20 for 242 yards and the four touchdowns. For the second game in a row, the freshman went without throwing a pick and gave way to backup James Lark after the third quarter.

The BYU defense gave up more yardage than it has in recent weeks (375), but the Cougars also came up big in an area that they have struggled in this year: creating turnovers. BYU forced the Rams into four turnovers and once again held their opponent scoreless until late in the game.

The defensive play of the day came when Corby Eason forced a CSU running back to fumble a ball that was scooped up and returned 44 yards for a touchdown by freshman linebacker Kyle Van Noy.

The game was effectively over after that play put the Cougars up 21-0 with 14:49 to go in the second quarter.

This win puts BYU (5-5, 4-2) in position to wrap up bowl eligibility with a win over New Mexico next Saturday, something that seemed like a pipe dream for this team just a few weeks ago.

It marks the Cougars’ third win in a row, their fourth in five games and the first win on the road this season. BYU is a team that no one wants to see on their schedule right now, including the reeling Utah Utes.